Pearl Barley Salad with Harissa-Spiced Chicken

The grill on the patio is quickly coming back to life as we start grilling more and roasting less. Even the patio furniture has been dug out of the shed and revived. Pots of herbs and nasturtiums have been updated and are bursting with color and new growth. The season in the southwest can be short and mild or long and dramatic. I am ready for this very short and relevant season.

Last week I just happened upon a great cookbook, called "What Katie Ate", by Katie Quinn Davies and it is exceptional. She is a commercial food and lifestyle photographer in Sydney Australia who also has a blog aptly names "What Katie Ate", . The pictures are always phenomenal and her food is many times portrayed as family style. I vaguely remember when this book first came out, but at the time I certainly did not give it it's proper attention. Today's recipe is from her salad section and is made with pearl barley. I did not have pearl barley on hand, so I used farro, but everything else remains much the same. She notes that to make this a gluten-free dish simply replace the barley with quinoa, and cook per instructions on the container. This salad is definitely appropriate for spring with all it's beauty and flavor.

Ingredients:

Salad:

1 - 7 ounce organic chicken breast
1/4 cup almonds (sliced and roasted)
1 cup pearl barley (I used farro)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil (plus more for the zucchini)
Sea salt and pepper
1 medium size head broccoli (broken into florets)
1 medium size zucchini (sliced lenghwise into long strips)
3 scallions (trimmed and finely sliced)
1 green bell pepper (trimmed, seeded and finely diced)
Large hand full of arugula (finely chopped)

Marinade:

Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon store bought Harissa paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of sea salt

To prepare:

Begin by making the marinade, place all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. Place the chicken in a shallow container and the pour marinade over, shake and be sure chicken is well covered. Marinade 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Place barley in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cover and simmer 35 minutes, or until just tender. Drain, rinse and then set aside. Place the lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, a couple of grinds of black pepper in a small bowl and whisk together, then pour over barley, stir, set aside.

Next start a saucepan of water, bring to a boil, place broccoli florets in 2 minutes maximum, drain and plunge into a bowl of ice water, drain once again, set aside.

Brush olive oil on each of the zucchini strips and grill until lightly browned, then dice thinly, set aside.

Last but not least, remove chicken breast from marinate and grill, (here's where we differed, we grilled our chicken breast where she cooked hers in a large skillet with the marinade), let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing into very thin pieces.

Place the chicken, almonds, barley, broccoli, zucchini, scallion, bell pepper and arugula into a large bowl to combine. Taste, then season with salt and pepper if necessary. Enjoy!